' Ferguson — On the Transcription of Ogham Legends. 47 



tnaqi in the plural ; the form maqa, however, being, in any case, a 

 novel addition to the Oghamic vocahulary. 



A similar disillusion awaited me on the adjoining strand at 

 Trabeg. Here, on the margin of highwater, lies the often-illustrated 

 block bearing the name of Brusccos, and of the father of Brusccos, whose 

 name, whether it was Calic, or Caluoc, or Caliac (for there is some 

 obscurity in the penultimate group), may, in its inflected form, cer- 

 tainly be regarded as a genitive dependent on the preceding Maqi. 

 Now, in the bi-lingual of Killeen Cormaic, a grammatical dependence 

 seems to exist between the last word of the epigraph terminating in 

 os, and the commencing proper name or names, terminating in o ; and 

 at an early period of my acquaintance with Mr. Shearman's discovery, 

 it occurred to me that here were indications, if supported by the results 

 of any considerable induction, of an old Irish nominative in os, having 

 a genitive in o, which might possibly furnish a new paradigm to the 

 declensional forms of the Grammatica Celtica. 



This stone of Brusccos appeared to supply at least one example 

 towards corroborating the inference ; for it had been carefully exa- 

 mined by a learned member of the Academy, who had made it the 

 subject of recent communications to this and other antiquarian 

 societies. He read the legend, 



Brusccos maqqi Gain oco, 



and conceived he had detected in the terminal syllables an exclamation 

 of sorrow for the fate of Bruscc the son of Calu. I was not prepared 

 to accept this part of the legend in that sense ; but regarded the name 

 as a legitimate analogue of the British Bodvoc, and visited the monu- 

 ment in the full confidence that it would confirm my impression of the 

 declensional forms suggested by the Killeen Cormaic bilingual. I 

 confess I was, at the moment, disagreeably undeceived. The object 

 pursued may be delusive, but the pleasure of the pursuit is real ; and 

 such is the imperfection of the inquiring faculty, that one parts with 

 some regret from an idea, however chimerical, which has for any length 

 of time been the companion of his thoughts. The expected o turned 

 out to be an i, and I turned from the disappointing indentations with 

 a sense of the vanity of human wishes. 



" Caliacus," 11 however, which seems to be the true name so re- 

 vealed, is an acceptable addition totheHiberno-Britannic names of post- 

 Boman date : for it is to this period the name Brusccos seems most 

 probably referrible. Mr. Brash has pointed out the Roman inscription 

 at Lincoln commemorating JNorninius Sacer son of Bruscos, " Civis 

 Senonii ;" and the name again occurs on pottery of the same period — 

 Brusc F. — from Duntocher on the line of Agricola's Wall, where the 

 siglum F. obviously stands for Fecit. 



11 See observation of Bishop Graves (pa<t). 



